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This paper records the Polish aspects of P. F. Lazarsfeld's sociointellectual biography and examines his impact on Polish sociology. The analysis is divided into three chronological parts. In the 1930s, Lazarsfeld's empirical work inspired Polish sociologists in their studies on unemployment. In the late 1950s and 1960s, his model of empirical social research shaped the style of sociological practice in Poland. In the 1990s, some of Lazarsfeld's substantive contributions, mainly in the area of election studies, were taken up in Polish sociology. Lazarsfeld's influence on Polish sociology was conditioned by changes in Polish society and sociology, which is emphasized in this analysis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the currently most interesting sources of rural sociological research in contemporary Poland is the examination of the socio-economic and political consequences arising from the co-existence of a largely privately owned agricultural sector and a state industrial sector. The emergence of the dual-occupational "peasant-worker" is just one very important aspect of this phenomenon, and the aim of this paper is to outline some of the problems it creates for both these sectors. These peasant-workers fall outside of the state's attempts at incorporating the individual peasant into the planned economy whilst at the same time they are not as responsive nor as dependent as might be desired upon the state's demands in industrial production. Their "awkwardness" is all the greater in that the state does not possess the resources to propel them in one direction or the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]